The Gardener and Death

A Persian Nobleman:

This morning, with a face turned pale from fright, My gardener rushed in, "Sir, if I might!

"At work, just now, I stopped to take a breath, And looked up from the roses. There stood Death.

"Startled, I quickly left the work I'd planned, But saw full well the menace of his hand.

"Lend me a horse and I will make it run. Before night falls I'll be in Ispahan!"

This afternoon (I'd long since watched him flee), I chanced on Death beneath a cedar tree.

When he just stood there in his cloak of grey, I asked about the threat he'd made that day.

He smiled, "It was not threat as he surmised. I raised my hand because I was surprised,

"To find a man here working in the sun, Whom I must fetch tonight in Ispahan."